In the Halls of Hogwarts
by FreakyElla
Summary: After the war everyone is trying to get back to normal. Normal is exactly what Draco Malfoy wants' his life to be. But there are a lot of people who won't forget so quickly.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay I had this enormous urge to write a story from when they're at Hogwarts, so this became my attempt. This is sort of a pilot which I will continue with eventually, I just have to finish my other story first. I'm not a two-story kind of girl. Tell me what you think? Does it have potential?**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Theo, tell me again why we throw this quaffle around wearing no shirts on in the middle of Hogwarts grounds?" Draco asked. He had yet to understand Theo's so called brilliant idea he had proposed earlier in the day, but anyway there they stood, on one of Hogwarts many evergreen lawns in the unusual warm September afternoon sun.

"Draco, Draco, Drake..." Theo sighed shaking his head. "How hard can it be? You're supposed to be the smart one! Okay I will tell you one last time, so here we are one of the most popular spots in school. We have the perfect location. The next factor-"

"To make Theo's extremely long and complicated explanation short," Blaise said taking a step from the shadows of the tree which he had casually leaned against and stuffed his hands into his pockets. The afternoon sun gleamed against his dark,well-toned abs. "We're hot. Girls like hot guys. Flexing muscles whilst throwing a ball around makes us look cute and boyish, which will attract the girls that are still a bit cautious around us. All this will make it easier to pick them off in the near future."

A wide grin started to spread over Draco's lips. That explanation certainly revealed some perks. It had been four though months since the war ended. The ministry had started prosecuting everyone who had not fought with the light in rapid speed. Himself had been spared though his mother's actions and for not participating in the final battle. Theo and Blaise had been spared for the same reason, not participating in the end.

But it had been a hard time in general to be a Slytherin. A lot of their friends or acquaintance had not been so lucky. The Slytherin house now only held half the people it used to. The table in the Great Hall had now a lot of empty seats, a quite sad sight actually.

Everything should had gone back to normal after the summer, that's what everyone was aiming for, but there was still some animosity directed towards them. Draco supposed that that's what was to be expected but this animosity severely affected them in the girls-area, which was something none of them had anticipated.

Before it had been enough to turn on the charm, show a crocked smile here;use some well-placed words there. But now all the girls that weren't Slytherins were cautious around them, and it was hard to get close enough to use that charm all three of them seemed to have been born with. And on top of that there were maybe just a handful good-looking Slytherins left that had not already been picked, used and dumped, in the small pond that was now the Slytherin house.

"Why didn't you say that earlier instead of rambling about factors?" Draco said as he nicked the red quaffle out of Theo's hands and started to back away from them so that they could get a good throwing distance.

"Because you were in a bad mood and didn't want to listen, you stubborn fuck." Theo mumbled but it was loud enough for both Draco and Blaise to hear.

It was true through. Draco had been in a bad mood all morning because the lack of sleep. He had been kept awake by the regularly returning nightmares that came at least once a week. They were all about the war and the Dark Lord and terrifying it had been to share the same roof as him. Never knowing where he might be, what he might hear, or if he had some other sick mission he wanted his followers to execute. That was enough in its own to leave one in a bad mood.

Instead of replying Draco sent the quaffle as hard as he could in Theo's direction. The bronzed haired boy let out an 'ouff' as the quaffle hit him straight in his chest but he caught it and shot the blonde a sour look.

"That's going to leave a red mark you know."

"More girls will look at us then." Draco said with a smirk, which earned a grin from Blaise.

Theo threw the quaffle at Blaise which he caught with a chasers agility and started to pat his slightly red chest. Luckily for him he had a tanned olive complexion that hid much of the redness. If it had been Draco that had been hit, the mark would have stood out in contrast to his paleness, which took on a more glowing look in the summer – the closest a Malfoy could come to get a tan.

"Stop being so vain and get in the game!" Blaise called and tossed the quaffle back at him, making his hands stop patting his chest in a quite gay-ish way in order to catch the new ball.

"I'm not more vain than you two!" he proclaimed and threw the ball to Draco. "You would try to fix that as well if you'd noticed the large amount of girls already pouring out the castle in our direction!"

Both Draco and Blaise stood with their back at the school so only Theo would be able to see what was happening, but soon enough they all hear the sound of girly giggles.

They continued to throw around the quaffle acting like they didn't take any notice of the groups of girls that sat down on the grass around them acting like they didn't mean to sit by them. It was just that it was the sunniest spot, or their favourite spot or whatever that made them all cluster around on the same lawn as the handsome Slytherin trio.

Just because they were apprehensive around them didn't mean that they said no to a view like that.

Theo passed the ball to Blaise who threw the ball too far to Draco's left so he wouldn't be able to catch it. Draco raised his eyebrow at Blaise, because he knew that his friend never threw that lousy.

Blaise tilted his head a friction to the right, the same way he threw the quaffle. Other people would not have noticed but after being friends with Blaise for such a long time Draco understood immediately.

He turned to his left and headed to retrieve the ball that had perfectly landed in a small ring of Ravenclaws.

"Excuse me," He started as he came closer to them, showing a slight crooked smile. "It seems like Blaise needs to work some more on his throwing arm before matches start."

Three of the girls giggled like it were the funniest thing they've ever heard. _I still got the charm._

"Well it seems like we won't have much of a competition then for this year's house cup." Draco turned his gaze at the redhead that had spoken. How could he have missed that the Gryffindor Weaselette sat in this cluster. Next to her sat Loony Lovegood and crooked her head to the left in thought, probably seeing some creatures that didn't exist.

"Can't have that, can we Weaselette? Hence the practice and it would be easier to practice if we could have the ball back." He responded with a touch of humour in his voice. I would do no good in using his ordinary drawl and repel the other three Ravenclaws that seemed to be responding positive to his proximity.

Weaselette picked up the quaffle and stood up to give it to him. But just as Draco was about to take it she pulled it back and threw it past him and back to Blaise.

Draco gave her a look that clearly asked if that had been necessary.

"What? I only showed him how it was supposed to be thrown." She said sweetly and batted her eyelashes like a silly little girl before taking her seat on the ground again.

She was mocking them; thankfully no one else in the group seemed to have noticed except Loony who was now staring at him openly. What did she think was swarming around his head this time?

"You have a really nice body, Malfoy." She said instead in that dreamy voice of hers.

He was completely taken aback and it seemed like the others was as well because Weaselette cried out a high pinched "Luna!"

He was surprised yes, but this indicated that even Loony liked a well build body. There was hope for her still. "Thank you, but I really should head back if we're going to sort out that throwing arm of Zabinis." With that he turned his back on the group of girls and headed towards his two mates who watched him with curious expressions.

Behind him he heard a "What? It's true." Come from Lovegood, he could almost hear her shoulders shrug as it was nothing but fact. Draco liked her more and more for every minute.

"What did Lovegood say?" Theo asked when he reached the two other boys.

"Yeah, it must have been something to cause Weaselette to shriek like that." Blaise added.

"She just said that I got a nice body." He answered with a shrug like it was nothing out of ordinary, but the smirk that crept onto his lips gave him away.

"She said it to your face?" Blaise asked in astonishment while Theo just laughed.

"Yup." Draco said with an even boarder smirk.

* * *

It was night the next time the Slytherin trio was out on the grounds. They had sneaked out by the secret pathway near their dormitory that they had discovered back in third year. Its entrance was right by the lake, hidden behind a couple of boulders.

"For Salazar's sake Blaise! Be careful with the booze!" Theo exclaimed when he saw what big of a sip Blaise took from their bottle of firewhiskey. They were out to celebrate Theo's fantastic plan, which had worked perfectly and earned them a bunch of possible dates.

"Yeah, mate! Save some to the rest of us!" Draco agreed. They sat leaning against an old oak tree looking out on the Black Lake. In this position they could not be seen from school or from the rest of the grounds, but they themselves had a clear reflection of the whole school in the lake. And if they turned around they could see everything as well through the small bushes around the tree. It was the perfect spot and far enough from the school to allow private conversations.

"I can drink how much I want to! It wasn't you that got felt up by Millicent Bulstrode during dinner!" he said fiercely and took another large swig.

The other two winced. The plan may have backfired here and there by giving them horrible invitations from hideous girls, and actually some boys, but Blaise had got the worst end.

"Sorry, mate we forgot" Theo said. "Take as much as you want."

Suddenly Draco saw something white flicker in the corner of his eye. He turned his head to the lake and saw a reflection of a girl in a white dress running across the grounds rather near their spot on the shore. The dress was longer at the back and when she ran the dress sort of flew behind her, making her look like a nymf.

He turned around and peeked through the bushes. Judging from the rustling beside him the others had seen it as well and had also turned to see whom it was that was running across the grounds at this hour, and in _that_ dress.

As she came nearer they started to recognize her face and a look of disbelief crossed all of their faces.

"Is it the booze, or was that just..." Blaise began and rubbed his eyes as the girl in white sprinted past them heading for one of the schools greenhouses.

"Granger running past us at this hour?" Draco continued, still not believing what he saw.

It was silent a couple of seconds as they all watched Granger run with high-heeled shoes in one of her hands before Theo voiced the thought that they all had been thinking.

"And was it just me, or did she look good?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: right.. couldn't resist writing another chapter, hehe. Another thing I forgot to mention in the first chapter was that neither Fred nor Snape died in the war. I like both of them too much to keep them from this fic. Lupin and Tonks didn't die either just because I don't want Harry to have the burden to take care of little Teddy. Otherwise I think it will stick with what happened in DH.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

"Wait up!" Ginny yelled as she hurried down from the girl dormitories and across the almost empty Gryffindor common room to Hermione who had stopped at her request at the portrait hole.

"Where were you yesterday?" She asked as both girls started the walk down to the Great Hall for lunch.

"At my cousins wedding." Hermione replied not feeling particularly sorry for not telling anybody where she'd been the previous day. Ever since the war nobody had let her go anywhere without accompanying her. Frankly, she was sick of it. She had fought herself in the war for Godric's sake! She could take care of herself and didn't need a fricking babysitter! Especially not to her muggle-cousins perfectly muggle-ordinary wedding!

"Hermione Granger sneaking away from school? I'm flabbergasted!" Ginny said mockingly.

"Shut up! And it not like we had classes with it being Saturday and all."

"Yeah, yeah, but you could have told me."

"I just didn't want anyone, you know…"

"I do know Hermione, trust me I hate being escorted everywhere just like you, but Harry and Ron just worries about us and if they knew you were outside the castle yesterday… well they wouldn't be too happy about that."

"They don't know I was away?" Hermione was confused. Didn't they notice that she was missing for a half a day? If they didn't know then yesterday wouldn't be an example that said she could manage all by herself, that there was nothing to worry about.

"I might have told them a white lie that you didn't feel very well." Ginny said nonchalantly.

"And they didn't want to come and check on me? They usually send up some tea when I'm sick and attach this cute 'get well' note." Hermione said a bit sad. She wasn't really sick, so she shouldn't feel neglected, but she did.

"Well… I sort of told them you were having girl issues, such as cramps, back pains and headaches-"

"Ginny!" Hermione shrieked in horror but she continued.

"I might have exaggerated a bit but I painted the story colourful enough to make them wish they never were a girl, let alone come up and visit you. You're welcome."

"Don't you know how embarrassing this is going to be for me? To meet them at lunch now, they won't be able to look at me in the eye!"

"A 'thank you Ginny for saving my arse' would have been sufficient."

"But now they won't notice the point I was trying to make!"

"And what point was that?"

"That I can manage on my own!" Hermione said vehemently.

"Try to do it more subtle next time and I won't have to cover for you. You can't expect them to be happy and realise you can take care of yourself when you just disappear for a half a day! They will be worried sick! You can max go away for two- three hours if you disappear longer than that they will think something has happened." Ginny explained.

Hermione looked at her friend. They had gotten quite close over the summer when both she and Ginny had been kept at either Grimmauld Place or the Burrow without much opportunity to leave. Both had fought in the war and survived so neither of them understood everyone's need to keep them safe. Maybe it was as a compromise for that they hadn't been able to do it before the final battle and wanted to keep them safe from the few, but vindictive, Death Eaters still out there. The whole situation was absurd, but no one seemed to be willing to listen to them and their arguments against it.

Ginny had been livid the first month of the summer, and had almost climbed the walls in frustration, and Hermione had been annoyed. But after some time it seemed like the rolls had been reversed. Hermione was now desperate to prove she was a big girl that could take care of herself and Ginny was the annoyed one. But she had a point. To be making an example like that wouldn't do any good, just getting them too worried to even listen to her explanation afterwards.

"You're right, thank you," Hermione concluded, they were already halfway down to the Great Hall and she didn't want drag the conversation on anymore. "I'll make my point smaller and less obvious next time, I just want to be able to go where I want, when I want. Wasn't that the reason we fought for in the war, freedom!"

"Yeah, but will end soon. We'll let then continue a bit longer and see if they will end automatically or we will force the truth down her throats." Ginny said happily, like she just hadn't threatened the boys.

Hermione just shook her head at her friend's behaviour. The girl was a devil in an angel's body. The Weasely temper had yet to make an exception, but what made her all the more fun to be around was that she seemed to have inherited Fred and George's mind for tricks and pranks.

"But tell me! How was the wedding?" Ginny said in a change of subject and raised Hermione from her thoughts.

"It was beautiful! I was one of the bridesmaids and Victoria, my cousin, had chosen this gorgeous thin strapped, cream white dresses that narrowed down the waist and then fell down with its back a bit longer than the front." Hermione said dreamily.

"But white bridesmaids dresses?"

"Yes, Victoria wanted to 'prolong the summer' but we had these golden shawls around our shoulders that made us look more golden than pristine white that was the colour of her dress."

"Sounds lovely! I hate it when they choose horrible bridesmaids dresses, they just do that so no one will look at anyone except for the bride. It's so futile, it's like they have no self-esteem!" Ginny said like she spoke from experience, which Hermione didn't doubt that she did.

"I know, I'm so grateful that Victoria's not like that, because it's not like you can say no to the dress either! But the whole ceremony was beautiful, and the after party was a success as well."

"And did you happen meet someone pleasant at the after party that made it such a success?" Ginny asked in an innocent voice while wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hermione said dismissively and quickened her pace. Surely she didn't know, did she? But Ginny being Ginny she had probably snooped around and found out something. The question was just how?

"And that statement tells me that there most certainly was someone! I thought I saw…" She tailed off before attacking Hermione and pulled down the collar of her shirt a bit, reviling a faint hickey.

"Hermione, you foxy lady!" She exclaimed. "How was it? How far did you go? You didn't get all the way did you?"

"Of course not! What do you take me for?" Hermione said in horror and pulled up the collar until it nearly reached her throat.

"I don't know! It's not every day you find Hermione Granger with a hickey!"

"Sush! Somebody can hear you!" Somebody named Harry and Ron. Harry was like her older brother and would go ballistic, and with Ron it would just be awkward. They had tried dating for a few weeks in the beginning of the summer but they had quickly concluded that they should just be friends.

"Well who was he?" Ginny asked in a more hushed tone.

"His name is Nate and was the grooms brother, oh look we're here - now shut it!" Hermione whispered just as she walked in to the Great Hall. She knew Ginny wouldn't leave her alone, but the girl had sense enough to keep from mentioning anything until they were alone again. She needed to avoid Ginny for the rest of the day.

* * *

"You are avoiding me!" Ginny proclaimed in the afternoon when she caught Hermione by herself. Darn.

"Of course not." Lie, lie, lie.

"Yeah right! You're going to give me all the dirty little details!

"I will not give you all the _dirty little details _because there are none!" Hermione said, blushing slightly and regretted for once that her hair had grown out of its bushiness, now she couldn't hide well enough behind it to keep away Ginny.

"You're blushing! Then there must be some details to spare!" Ginny's eyes sparkled in excitement.

Tedious cheeks!

"Tell me! What did he look like? Was he a good snog?"

"Do you have to know everything?" Hermione asked in expiration.

"Duh!"

Sighing in defeat Hermione grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her to a more private part of the hallway, just by a large window with a sill that functioned as a bench.

"Okay let's make this short so no interruptions okay?" She asked Ginny with raised eyebrows and got squeal and a nodding head in accept.

" Okay, so Nate's nineteen and has chocolate brown hair and the cutest dimples I've ever seen. He's medium height, nicely built and looked really good in a tux." Ginny squeaked here in excitement but quickly made a zipping motion over her lips and threw away the key.

"He was really charming and a good kisser but he seemed to just want to get in my pants. After I pushed him away for giving me a hickey he sort of understood that he wouldn't get very far with me and went to seduce another girl." Hermione said the last part a bit grimly. She didn't like being so easily fooled even though she knew it couldn't be serious since he was a muggle, not while she was as young at least.

"What a dick-head!" Ginny shouted angrily.

"Ginny!" Hermione said shocked by her friend language, though she should be used to it by now.

"Wasn't he?"

"Yeah he was…" Hermione agreed sourly.

Ginny looked at her for a moment before she swiftly changed the subject and directed the thoughts off Nate. "You can't believe what happened here while you was away yesterday!"

"What? Nothing bad I hope?" Hermione said feeling a little anxious.

"What? No, not at all. I just happened to see Malfoy part-naked." Ginny said nonchalantly.

"You saw WHAT? How on earth did that happen?" Hermione asked in shock.

"He, Zabini and Nott were all shirtless yesterday afternoon throwing a quaffle around on one of the lawns, don't ask me why. But Zabini with his lousy arm threw the quaffle right at where I was sitting with Luna and some other Rawenclaws and Malfoy had to get it. Surprisingly my eyes didn't burn from the paleness, like I thought they would seeing him up close… He had actually a quite nice-" Ginny's musings was cut short when a certain blonde rounded the corner closest to them.

"Ladies." He said with a smirk on his lips before continuing to walk past them.

"You don't think he heard did you?" Ginny asked nervously, her cheeks getting tinted slight red.

"With that smirk… I think he did." Malfoy's ego really didn't need to be inflated even further. Patting Ginny on the back she jumped down from the sill.

"I really need to head toward the library now, try to keep your revelations to yourself until you reach the common room, will you? It won't do any good enlarging any more Slytherin egos, it will only come and bite you in the arse later."

At Ginny's murderous glare she turned on her heal and headed smiling to the library.

But really, it couldn't be healthy for the student body to inflate Slytherin egos like that. Especially not Malfoy's since it already was too big, at least it was before the war, but Hermione doubted that much had changed.

She pushed open the heavy library doors and headed for her usual table in the back of library. If Malfoy's ego got so much as one more compliment she was sure his head would explode, but then again that might not be such a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all-

She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the trio of Slytherins in her path before she walked right into them.

Speak of the devil. She looked up right into the mercury coloured eyes of Draco Malfoy, who was smirking at her in an ominous way. This would not end well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

"Umm.. Excuse me." Hermione said a bit pathetic and tried to squeeze past the Slytherins in the extremely narrow aisle.

Since when had the aisles become so narrow? And since when had it become so _hot_ in the library!?She really wanted to take off her grey zip-hoodie but she refused to do it in their presence.

It was unnerving to be the centre of these Slytherins attention. They all were devastatingly handsome, which was something Hermione had to admit to herself, there was no point in denying it. But what made the encounter unsettling was that they all were smart and more important, cunning. She didn't want to have whatever conversation they seemed inclined to have that they cornered her in the library. Whatever it was it couldn't bode well for her,and she wanted to be as far away from them as possible.

Whenever the three of them gathered like this the rest of the school pitied the poor soul who was unfortunate enough to be cornered. With their cunning minds they could play a complex prank with boundaries and not get caught.

She really didn't want to be that next poor soul...

"Why the hurry Granger?" Malfoy said in his usual drawl, leaning casually against a bookshelf.

"I have homework that needs to be done." She answered rising an eyebrow. It wasn't unusual that she did her homework in the library, in fact it was a regularity, so she wondered what had brought this question on.

"That's what happens when you sneak away from school..." Zabini said in a singsong voice.

What? How did they know? She's taken precautions, took the one-eyed witch passage to Honeydukes and from there apparated directly. She could not let them get the upper hand by startling her with that type of information, if they did only Merlin knows what would happen.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hermione said trying to look as innocent as possible before trying to squeeze past them, again. "Now, if you excuse me."

"Not so fast there Princess." Malfoy scolded from behind, and she was once again mere inches from bumping into the chests of two -way too tall for their own good - Slytherins. Merlin how she hated being short! Taking a step back so she wouldn't be so close that she could smell their perfume, she bumped into something hard. Turning around she came face to face with another broad chest. What was it with these Slytherins and their extremely well-toned bodies? Seriously Malfoy was rock-hard but he didn't look like having those unnatural wash-table abs. It made it fricking hard to focus! Maybe Ginny had a point...

Forcing her eye's up from his casually t-shirt clad chest to face the smug looking blonde she willed her face to look impassive. Get a grip Hermione, it's not like they're naked or anything!

"What are you think you're doing." She asked angrily, managing to glare angrily at all three of them without being distracted by their impressive physics.

"This is called a deal, or blackmail if you'd like." Malfoy answered with a shrug. "Why don't we take a seat?" He continued smirking when he saw her shocked and outraged expression.

Not waiting for an answer he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her over to the table Hermione had intended to go to all along, before she was stopped by the three buffoons.

"Let me go!" She hissed struggling break loose from his grip, it didn't hurt but it was firm and Hermione didn't like the tingling sensations that travelled up her arm. Stupid hormones!

She was pushed down into a chair and then the trio took the seats in front of her, all staring at her ominously. What did he mean by blackmail? They wouldn't go to McGonagall, would they? She wanted to make a point to Harry and Ron by showing that she could take care of herself but sneaking off school grounds was forbidden, which could lead to expulsion! Especially since she was reckless enough to do so without company.

She put everything she had in a glare that she directed towards them, aiming for a look that could rival Molly Weasely's and to judge of their wavering expressions she managed it quite good.

"Well? Now that you have so roughly dragged me over here go on with your so called blackmail so _I_ can go on with my life." Hermione said raising her chin and swallowing her fears. Better find that Gryffindor courage that had run away and hid when the saw the trio of Slytherins, because she reckoned it was going to be one hell of a bumpy ride.

* * *

She could be quite scary sometimes, Hermione Granger, and it was something Draco didn't admit easily. She was not scary the same way the Dark Lord had been, he'd been frightening, no she was scary in a respectful way. Like you shouldn't underestimate her, which he should have learned after third year when she broke his nose.

When she lifted her chin and stared at them like that he remembered that this wasn't some ordinary chick, but one who was very active in the and knew which end of the wand was the dangerous end. But they had the upper hand, they held all the cards at the moment, they just had to play them right.

"Such impatience, Granger." Draco mused, just because he was a bit cautious didn't mean that he would show it.

She narrowed her eyebrows in a cute way. Wait, did he just think cute? Malfoy's didn't do cute! He guessed he should start blackmailing her already before he could start thinking about stuff like how close she'd been just minutes before in the aisle.

"Anyway, if you don't want your adventure last night to reach certain peoples ears you should start changing your attitude towards us." He continued.

"We only want to be accepted back in society, Granger," Blaise said fixing her in his dark stare. "And what better and easier way would that to achieve that than to have one of the Golden Trio and muggle-born to speak fondly of us."

"If I were to speak fondly of you three people would ask me if I were sick, it's not really a reliable concept." She said with a questioning raised eyebrow.

"Well, you don't have to praise us per se, even if we're not opposed to that," Theo filled in and received a snort from the witch in front of them, but he acted like he didn't hear and continued. "You just don't have to look at us with contempt and maybe nod at us in the corridors. Take baby steps you know."

Draco watched the gears turn in Grangers little head as she tried to predict every aspect of what they'd said. After what seemed like an eternity she nodded slowly and said "Baby steps, okay. But you don't tell anyone about me going away, deal?"

"You have a deal Granger," Draco said with a smirk. "See you in the halls." And then he and his two mates got up from the table and disappeared from the library, leaving the witch there alone with her studies.

* * *

Hermione had expected something awful, but this wasn't all that bad. It almost made sense. A nod in the hallways she could do that. No biggie. Then why couldn't she focus on her studies?

Blast it, she though a half an hour later when she still hadn't made any progress with her homework, her mind always digressed to something it shouldn't. She picked up her books and headed for the Gryffindor tower.

She would drop of her books and then head for the prefect's bathroom to have a long nice soak. Hopefully the warm water would help her clear her thoughts and spread some light on all the thoughts that had made knots on themselves in her head.

Reaching the tower she made a mental list of what bathroom items she would need: a towel, shampoo, conditioner, soap, a hairbrush. She winced already at the thought of untangling her hair. Sure it had gotten a lot less frizzy over the years but it was still a mess every time she took a bath.

Making her way across the common room to her dormitories she almost didn't see Ron and Harry wave her over the packed room. Seriously? Did every Gryffindor want to hang in the common room this afternoon?

"Hey, Hermione! It feels like we haven't seen you in.. like... forever. How do you.. eh. I mean… We mean… Do you feel better?" Harry said awkwardly.

Ground, swallow her up now! She was going to kill Ginny! She did this on purpose; she knew how awkward this would be for her! "I'm fine Harry, thanks." She answered through clenched teeth. It was quite cute that they cared enough to ask even though they were clearly uncomfortable because of the subject. Well that makes it three of them. "We all get it from time to time, nothing to worry about."

They both nodded but still looked extremely uncomfortable and it made Hermione twitch where she stood. "Well I was going to take a soak before dinner so I should better be going. See you two at dinner?" She asked as she stood up. Both nodded and she made a beeline for her dormitory to get her stuff. Jeez! She couldn't remember a time more uncomfortable and embarrassing with her two friends. No wait she could. Second year, polyjuice, enough said.

Fifteen minutes later she dipped down her feet in the huge tub of rapidly filling hot water. Merlin how she needed this soak, her stiff back really needed this. That was one of the backsides to studying as much as she did; it was really wearing for the back.

Soon she was under the bubbly water and felt it work its magic. How had this weekend become so… so, crazy!?

It had started wonderfully with a wedding only to end that night with a jerk who thought her neck was a popsicle and only wanted to get into her pants. Yeah, that had been a huge downer to that evening, and now she'd been blackmailed by a god damned Slytherin trio who had seen her last night just because she hadn't been careful enough.

Why did she have to make her life so complicated? Voldemort was defeated, she should be living on clouds now – in seventh heaven or whatever! But no, no. Not Hermione, her life should always be complicated and filled with difficult tasks!

And now she had to be civil towards the worst kinds of Slytherins! Was there someone up there that hated her or something? Ugh!

She let herself sink further into the tub, she just wanted a night where she could forget everything and just live. A night with none of her usual strings attached. She wanted a night full of booze and she knew just how to get it.

* * *

**A/N: So another chapter up! This story should pick up its pace now that I'm done with **_**A Pleasant Vacation**_**. I have to warn you though, it's my senior year and I'll probably be buried under tons of assignments and homework. Every bloody teacher will probably want to put all the terms assignment **_**before**_** Halloween when my class leaves for London in three weeks. But I guess I'll live because when we're in London I'll visit… wait for it… Harry Potter Studio Tour! *Squeals in delight***


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Being a prefect had its advantages. The Head titles had gone to actual seventh year, because it wouldn't really be fair to them if they should compete with both their year and those who came back after the previous year. It was a valid reason but Hermione guessed that McGonagall wanted them to have an actual chance at becoming Heads, that meaning they wouldn't have to compete with the all-mighty Hermione Granger.

She scoffed, really if they knew what she was about to do they would not think so highly of her. But really she didn't want to be Head Girl; she didn't want that much responsibility, she'd had enough of that last year. That didn't mean she cut herself out of everything that had anything to do with responsibility though, she was who she was after all and the prefects duty was just enough to make her feel good about herself.

She reached the prefects meeting room and sneaked inside as quietly as she could, checking if the coast was clear, then headed straight for her destination.

It was a low, dark wooden cupboard that was a bit tattered of the frequent use. It was the cupboard used for storing the seized liquor. A cupboard that was about to be raided of no other than miss goody-two-shoes.

They irony, Hermione thought, made it all the more fun!

She brought out an unopened bottle Ogden's firewhiskey, unscrewed it, and took a big sip. Instantly she started coughing, she wasn't used to the burning that erupted in her throat. It was unlike the one you got from muggle whiskey. While that also burned in the throat, firewhiskey radiated warmth, like you've swallowed a burning ember but in a pleasant way. It was really hard to describe but the warmth made the buzz even better. She guessed that that was the reason for the extremely slim liquor market in the magical world, there wasn't a demand for anything else that caused a more unpleasant buzz.

She took another sip, only grimacing this time, and went to one of the plush armchairs in the room. It was hard though, to mix drinks on firewhiskey - so you didn't - just like you didn't based drinks on whiskey in the muggle-world. It was quite a pity, because Hermione liked drinks, especially those sweet and fruity ones.

She smiled to herself, she should really take a bartender course after school was done. Just be a bit irresponsible before taking up whatever career she wanted. That was one of the perks with having O's on every subject; it gave you a rather large choosing range when it came to finding a good job. It didn't really hurt either that she was one third of the Golden Trio who defeated Voldemort.

Even though she complained quite a lot these days, though mostly to herself, she didn't regret any of it. Becoming friends with Harry and Ron had been one of the best things that had ever happened to her, and not even all the dangers they had dragged her in could change that.

But Harry and Ron had Quidditch, something to do to take their mind of the present. What did she have? Studying? Yeah, really relaxing for the brain... no she studied to feel good about herself, and be proud of what she'd accomplished. Knitting? Mhm... sure, she'd just started to regain the sense in her fingers after her knittingspree in sixth year, so thanks but no thanks.

The thing was she had never really just shut off her brain since she'd gotten old enough to actively use it. There was always something luring around the next corner. She seemed not to know how to stop thinking! Hence, why she needed the booze.

Another sip.

She felt her insides started to hum comfortably, but she still had a long way to go until her brain switched off.

A bigger sip.

Was it getting a bit hot in the room or was she only imagining? She pulled lightly on her jumper collar to allow some cool air to slip in, but it didn't really make any difference so she decided to pull it off altogether, leaving a simple black t-shirt.

Ahhh! The slight breeze was so nice.

She took a mouthful of the drink this time.

How long had she been there? Everything was starting to get a little fuzzy around the edges..

A giggle erupted from her throat. By Merlin's pink knickers she was pathetic! Sitting alone in the prefects meeting room drinking by herself because she would not stop thinking. She should go and find a hobby.

Yeah, the library was good at providing that sort of information. Maybe there was a book stating the ten most successful hobbies? Well it was worth a check, right? The old grandfather clock at the end of the room told her that it was just after midnight so no one should she her and notice that she was a bit tipsy.

She rose from her seat and instantly felt blood rush to her head; she might have been a little more affected than she originally thought. After a few moments of the world twirling - and setting itself right again - Hermione headed for the library.

In a last minute impulse she grabbed the bottle to go, because it was what had given her this brilliant idea after all. And a few sips more couldn't hurt, maybe it would help her choose a hobby!

* * *

Somewhere between the meeting room and the library Hermione transformed into an undercover spy calling herself Agent X.

She was there to detect cheaters, devious characters that could cause the school harm. She was the school protector, the masked angel who criminal fears and the students awe.

But for that she needed a mask.

Looking around she cut out a bit of a curtain and transfigured it into a black cloak and a black mask. But it looked a bit dark for her taste so she changed the colour around the eyes on the mask so it would look like her eyes were on fire.

Yeah, that would teach the criminals to fear her! O oo o! Now she could call herself... Flamione! Hot stuff coming through the halls! Wiieeeeee!

She ran as fast as she could so the cape would billow behind her forgetting her bottle right by the demolished curtain. Right before the next turn at the corridors end she skidded to a halt and sneaked a peek around the corner. She was after all a spy, James Bond style - with a trace of superhero-ism.

Looking around the corner she couldn't believe her luck. No, it wasn't luck that had lead her here. It was her awesome villain detective powers! In the otherwise abandoned corridor was the cheater of cheaters. The villain of villains. The lousiest of the lousiest.

It was Peeves.

It was her duty to protect the school from people... eh.. ghosts like him.

"Stop there Peeves!" Hermione said confidently as she stepped around the corner. "In the name of the statues of law of the great nation of France, I arrest you for causing harm and havoc to this school; Peeves, The Ghost Who Causes Ghostly Harm." She had no idea where the Pink Panther line came from but she though it had a nice ring to it.

"Me? Arrested? And by whom if I may ask?" Peeves answered in a mischievous tone.

"By me! The feared Agent X, aka Flamione, aka Goodie-two-shooes, aka brushy-haired beaver- aka..." She stopped there, she should not have said the last two names. They weren't names anyway, it was bad-names. Ugly names. Names she did not like.

"And how exactly had you thought you'd arrest me? I'm a ghost!" he laughed the last bit, which irritated Hermione.

You should beware Flamione when she'd became irritated.

Quickly she drew her wand and threw a paint-spell on him, hoping that paint would stick somehow. And it did, suddenly Peeves was covered in baby-blue paint.

Hermione really was a genius! She started to do a really embarrassing winning-dance consisting of a bunch of crude gestures towards Peeves, until she felt something sticky hit her right side. Looking down she saw that her entire side was covered in green paint.

"Oh no you didn't." Hermione threatened dangerously.

All she received in response from the twirling Peeves, was a "Yes, I did."

"You ruined my cape you lousy ghost! This shit just got personal!" Fast as lightning she threw another paint-spell, pink this time, and threw herself behind the corner before Peeves could retort.

Her beautiful cape was ruined! Peeves needed to pay for this. She conjured a paintball gun filled with a multitude of colours. She charmed the balls of paint to erupt when they felt the proximity to the ghost, because otherwise Flamione thought they would just go straight through.

With a fierce battle cry she jumped out behind the corner, did a really cool summersault on the ground to cover some space which would have made James Bond proud, and then attacked Peeves with all her might.

And the largest paint war in the history of Hogwarts had begun.

* * *

Hermione woke up to the extremely ear-piercing sound of Lavender trying to find her imported mascara from Italy which had mysteriously disappeared. Seriously, could she just not shut up!

Her head hurt like a heard of hippogriff had had tap-dancing lesions on her head. How she hated booze, she hereby vowed to never drink again! She buried herself further down in her pillow in an attempt to escape the world.

No such luck.

"Hermione," Parvati said. "Breakfast is over in ten minutes!"

At Hermione's dismissively waiving hand through the curtain around her bed both Parvati and Lavender, who still hadn't found her mascara, left dorm.

Breakfast was in ten minutes, and the girls only woke her on school-days (even school-loving students had their weak days), which meant that classes started in fifteen.

Oh Fuck. Today was Monday of all days!

She almost flew out of bed, causing her head some extreme pain, and got her shock of her life. She was covered from head to toe in paint. Multicoloured paint.

Suddenly parts of last night after the intake of booze came back to her.

The hobby searching that never became finished, or even started. How she had vandalized school property by cutting herself a cape and a mask from a curtain. And the paint-war she'd had with Peeves. What happened after was still fuzzy but looking around said that she'd lost the cape and the mask somewhere between the fight and her dorm. Thank heavens for that.

But she feared what she would see once she got out in the halls. These things never stayed quiet, especially never around Peeves.

Oh God, she would, never, ever have a movie-marathon with her dad again! Especially not one containing James Bond, Superhero-movies and the Pink Panther...

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! I hope you like the drunk Hermione and sorry about the wait. It was quite hard to come up with something embarrassing for Hermione to do. And don't worry, what happened during the war and who won will probably come forth in the next chapters… ;)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Hermione ran through the halls towards Charms class, her first lesson of the day. She didn't think she'd ever been so late in her whole school career; it was only three minutes until class started! The blasted paint had taken forever to magic-away! As she got closer she heard an uncommonly loud mumble echoing through the corridor. She sprinted around the last corner and skidded to an abrupt halt so she wouldn't collide with her whole class as they had stopped right at the entrance of the corridor.

"Who is Agent X?" she heard someone ask.

Even though she was short and couldn't see much of the corridor in front of her because of the herd of students in front of her, she could clearly deduct a baby blue text high up on the wall.

It said: Agent X is invincible! And Hermione couldn't be more mortified.

Seriously! She'd had her paint-fight in the Charms corridor! The whole corridor was splashed in multicoloured paint-spots making it impossible to walk in if you didn't want paint on your shoes.

Oh Godric! What had she done?

Slowly she walked back a few steps until she was right next to the corner. Had she really done all that?

"Why didn't you write 'Flamione'?" A whisper came from behind her.

Twirling around so fast her head was throbbing twice as hard as it had been that morning she faced the speaker, nearly losing her balance in the process.

Of course it was Malfoy! Just her luck!

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" She asked dangerously low.

"I said, why didn't you write Flamione? I think it's more... catching." He answered with a smirk.

Hermione felt her anger steadily rise; this was so not her day. "I heard what you said, the first time." She responded through gritted teeth. "What I really meant was; where did you get that name from? You seem to think I had something to do with that?" She inclined her chin back to the colourful corridor.

When his smirk grew wider she narrowed her eyes to cover the guilty and nervous feelings that started in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like that knowing smirk. It made it seem like he knew something about last night, and that type of information could be really dangerous in his hands.

Instead of saying anything he fished up something black from his pocket. Turning it around Hermione saw that it was a black mask with orange flames around the eye-holes. It was her mask.

Oh fuck!

How much had he seen?

He chuckled, presumably at her expression. The expression 'deer in headlights' fitted like a hand in the glove.

"H..how much d-did you see?" she asked feeling her cheeks blaze red. "How? Why?"

God! Malfoy had seen her drunk, having a paint-fight with Peeves!

"I saw pretty much everything, I gotta say Granger, you were pretty fierce with that gun of yours. As for how, I was the prefect on duty last night, and as for the why... Well it was the most fun I had all evening! And here I thought it would have been another boring round, how wrong I was! I wished I would have had popcorn though..." he ended his explanation with a faraway look in his eyes. Was he thinking about popcorn? Did he even know what popcorn was?

Actually that popcorn bit surprised her enough to ask the question aloud.

He opened his bag and took out a muggle-studies book and waved it in front of her face. She'd forgotten that it had been made a mandatory subject now after the war. She felt like punching herself in the face, maybe with the book itself.

Since when had she become so forgetful?

Right then they heard a yell "Oooo deeeaaaaaaaaar!" coming from the other end of the paint-demolished corridor, following by a thud. Walking around the corner properly she jumped to see what happened. Behind her she heard Malfoy laugh and decided that she would probably faster find out what happened from him, than to push through the herd of students. Merlin how she hated being short!

"What happened?" she demanded with her hands on her hips.

"Flitwick just slid and fell on the chaos you've created. I think he's unconscious. Well I guess I should thank you for managing to cancel this lesson unintentionally." With that and a rather hard slap on her back he turned around, still laughing and walked away.

Gaping after him she didn't know which she was most shocked about. Malfoy thanking her or that she'd caused a professor harm and cancelling a lesson (though unintentionally!).

She really started to lose her game.

* * *

"Did you see what happened in the Charms corridor?" Ginny asked eagerly as she took the seat next to Hermione at lunch.

"It was kind of hard to miss!" Harry pointed out from across the table.

"It was bloody brilliant, that's what it was!" Ron exclaimed from beside Harry with his mouth full of food.

Both the girls wrinkled their noses in distaste but noticed a lost cause when they saw one. Seven years had they tried to change Ron's awful habit and in seven years had they failed. The start of this year they had finally admitted defeat much to Ron's delight. He really didn't understand that it wasn't something to be proud of...

"I think it was quite awful." Hermione countered. It had caused a professor to fall and then faint! She had caused that!

"What are you talking about 'Mione?" Ron asked in astonishment, thankfully having had time to swallow first. "Flitwick fainted, and we skipped class!"

"Yes, not even Fred and George managed that during their time at school, it's quite a feat." Ginny mused. "Wait until they hear about this." A wicked smile started to spread on her lips. "They're going to be so jealous!"

Hermione shook her head. Only Ginny could be so happy for her siblings' misfortune. It was actually true though. The evil mastermind twins in pranks and all things related hadn't managed to do something Hermione had done unintentionally. That was something quite extraordinary; of course she was Hermione Granger and never did anything half-hearted. Even getting drunk and engaging in a paint fight with a ghost.

"Anyway," Said Ginny. "They said that the corridor probably wouldn't be cleaned until the late afternoon, apparently it was pretty hard to wash away I heard some teachers mutter something about sticking-charm of some kind. What I wanted to get with this is that I won't have my afternoon class so I've got the rest of the day off! I sooo owe the person who did it a massive thank you!"

"A professor fainted! Stop being so gleeful!" Hermione still felt bad about the whole thing. She was quite proud about accomplishing something the twins had not been able to do but she was not happy about what she'd done! Did that even make any sense? Well in her head it did. And now the charm she cast so that the paint would stick on Peeves gave the professors trouble. Wasn't she the no. 1 student?

Glancing at her wristwatch se saw that the lunch was almost over and started to gather her things so she would not be late to her last class for the day, Ancient Runes.

"I'd better go, see you after?" She ignored their questioning expressions about her previous statement and left the hall. Seriously they shouldn't be confused that she would speak up on the behalf of teachers, she'd done it all the previous six years.

Walking swiftly through the halls she got to the classroom in an appropriate time. She went over the last few lessons notes to pass time before the class began. More and more students started occupying the hall outside the classroom and in no time they were filling the benches, them all turned to the professor to hear what they would do today. Surprisingly the lesson ended almost as fast as it had begun due to the fact that they got an assignment that would require the help of the library.

Gathering her stuff once again in such short notice she turned in the direction of the Gryffindor tower to dump all her other books before making her way to the library.

She headed straight to her dorm, dumped her other books and picked up a few she thought would be useful to the assignment. Rearranging her bag over her shoulder she walked down the stairs casually pulling her hair up into a ponytail, she spotted Ginny in one of the comfy armchairs in the common room.

"Hermione!" Ginny called and waved her over.

"Class got an assignment, I was on my way down to the library." She explained at Ginny's raised eyebrow, clearly wondering what Hermione did outside class.

"That explains it! But can't you stay and give me some company? You don't have to finish that assignment the same hour you got it, you know.."

"I don't do that!" Hermione exclaimed but took a seat in the couch next to Ginny.

"Yes you do, but we love you anyway! I just want some company."

"And you always get it whenever you ask!" Hermione said determinately bending forward and placed a hand on her friends arm. She'd made some priority-changes after the war, and that was to not let schoolwork come between her and her friends. Even though how badly she wanted perfect grades it would not be on the cost of her friends, she just had to balance it carefully.

"I know." Ginny said with a smile but that smile quickly vanished. "Hermione, what's that behind her ear?"

Reaching up Hermione felt something hard behind her left ear. Scratching slightly she pulled her had back and discovered a bright orange paint-flake.

Oh-oh.

"Is that paint?"

"Eh.. mmm eh no?" Hermione tried but she knew she was busted. Damn Ginny and her hawk-eyes! First the hickey and now this!

"Hermione Jean Granger, don't tell me it was you?" Ginny said in astonishment. It wasn't a question about what it was Hermione supposedly hadn't done. It was obvious that Ginny talked about the paint covered charms corridor.

"Okay it was me, but to my defence I was drunk!" Hermione rushed out in a low whisper, and she could actually se Ginny's eyebrows disappear in her hairline.

Ginny was gaping like a fish on dry land not managing to get a single syllable out.

"You can't tell a soul!" Hermione said quickly before she regained her vocabulary.

And not a second too soon.

"Hermione you're so badass! I mean I swear.. Holy Godric!" She said not managing to be serious more than a few seconds down there in the middle.

At this Hermione made a grimace. Badass? Nah not really.

"How? Why?" Ginny continued looking way to eager.

"I was drunk, I met Peeves, and well one thing lead to another."

"Merlin, you make it sound like you did something else entirely!"

"God, no! It lead to a paint fight which I think I won." Hermione mused thinking about the caption in baby blue colour.

"Like I said, BadAss! And I'm the only one who know?" Ginny inquired.

This time making Hermione squirm uncomfortably. "Well.. no."

"Who?"

"Malfoy."

Silence.

* * *

**A/N: So school just piled up and delayed the writing and beta-ing of this chap. But well here it is, some more H and D interaction! Tell me what you think? Reviews are much appreciated! **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Oh, hi! Just wanted to say that Lavender didn't die in the war, another a/n at the bottom. Enjoy! **

**Chapter 6**

* * *

"_In a country without legs is the one-legged man king."_ Draco abruptly stopped, what in the worlds name was he reading? Slamming the thick volume shut he saw the headline _The Perks of Being an Amputee. _What the fuck? Seriously, he hadn't even noticed picking such an absurd book! He was really out of it today. But then again it was to be expected.

Today was the 22nd of September. Two years ago, on this same day was the day that he realized that he'd made the biggest mistake of his life. It was the day he truly understood that the Dark Lord wasn't someone to look up to. It was the day he really understood that the life of his family rested on his shoulders.

He looked down at his left forearm in distain. The mark stood out against his pale skin even though it had faded from pitch black to thundercloud grey. The mark that would forever brand him as one of the bad guys. He pulled down his crisp shirt to cover it up. He had a bad habit of shoving them up whenever he studied. Not such a great idea with the mark of destruction on his arm.

He reached into his shoulder bag that stood under the library table and picked up the small blue vial he always brought with him. It was a potion Snape had invented for him and those who deeply regretted their actions, actions that they had no control over, namely Blaise and Theo. Two drops was all it took in a glass of water and the mark disappeared for a day.

Then why didn't he take it today when he brushed his teeth as he usually did? It's quite simple: it was a day he'd promised himself he would remember forever, every little bit of it, and the mark helped him with that. That's not to say that he wasn't tempted. His fingers itched to use the little vial, take the easy way out, forget.

Suddenly he heard a sarcastic voice behind him.

" Ah, The perks of being an amputee, a classic" He looked over his shoulder and found Granger standing there. Oh joy.

"Ah yes, a real eye-opener..." He mumbled slightly embarrassed to be caught with such an absurd book. Discretely he turned away and put the vial back in the bag without her noticing either that or his slight blush for reading such a foolish book. Malfoy's don't blush. And they are not foolish either!

"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked with a sneer he hid his blush behind.

"Oh gee... What does Hermione Granger usually do in the library?" She answered with an even more sarcastic voice.

My, my, my, someone had learned to be sarcastic.

"I meant, by my table? Having you breathe over my neck is really uncomfortable, besides who knows what it will do to my complexion? Maybe you still leak colour!"

"Well maybe that's a good thing, might help cover up all that ugliness!" She responded haughtily but took a step back any way. But really? He was Draco Malfoy, it wasn't like he could let that comment slip could it?

He got up slowly. Nobody called him ugly. Nobody, especially not Miss Hermione Granger.

Most girls would have taken a step back when he rose to his full length in his close proximity, but not Granger. That's why it was so fun to mess with her. She got balls, metaphorically speaking and she was the only girl who could really hold her ground against him.

Looming over her she met his eyes daringly though he could feel her breath speed up, he was getting to her alright.

"Do you really think I'm ugly Granger?"

"Oh yes, you're hideous!" She nodded seriously and managed to supress a nervous gulp that would have nominated Draco as the winner. Luckily for Draco he didn't notice it or his ego would probably have exploded.

Irritated that she wouldn't give in he said; "Well, what are you doing here?"

"Actually Zabini sent me here to get you, he and Nott are waiting for you in the entrance hall." At Draco's questioning eyebrow she hastily added, though irritated, a little more information with her explanation. "I was on my way here anyway before going to Hogsmeade myself but just to be clear, I'm not a bloody owl and will not let you push me around like this! It was not in our agreement!"

Pasting his signature smirk he quickly turned to gather his things before turning to Granger again. "We'll see about that." He said nonchalantly as he shouldered his bag and left a fuming Gryffindor in the library.

* * *

Still fuming from earlier Hermione kicked a poor pebble all the way from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade. "We'll see about that." She mimicked Draco and gave the small rock a harder kick.

Seriously who did he think he was? A god? Bah! Though he had looked quite good back in the library with light hitting his hair that way... luckily he hadn't noticed her staring _that_ would have been embarrassing.

How come it was always Malfoy that reeled up such angry emotions in her? She needed to stay cool and not let him get to her so easily because it often affected the rest of her day, giving her a hard time thinking about anything else which only made her angrier.

Well Lavender could also do that… they could share the number one spot. Gods they're frustrating people.

Especially now when Ron had started dating Lavender again. Hermione seriously couldn't handle hearing another 'Won Won' squeal without starting to pull her hair. How he could go back to that hag was beyond Hermione. She was really over her feeling for Ron, she was but that didn't mean that she couldn't be worried for her friend's well-being. All that squealing and clinging could not be good for a person!

She took a deep breath in the slightly chilly air to cleanse her thoughts before she walked the short distance to the clothes-shop where she was going to meet Ginny. They were going to have some alone-girl-shopping time before joining Harry and Ron at the Tree Broomsticks, for drinks.

The door opened with a _pling!_ and Hermione started to search for her red-headed friend. It turned out not to be that hard as her friend seemed to have got stuck in the lingerie department. She was currently looking a black lace bra, tilting her head to the side as if inspecting a painting.

"Try it on, you know you want it and it will look fabulous on you."

Ginny yelped and jumped around to face her. "Damn it Hermione, you startled me!"

"Yeah, because that bra is a lot more interesting than the rest of the world. Really Ginny try it on!"

"It's really something huh?" said Ginny holding up the piece again to marvel at it. It wasn't anything really extraordinary about it if you looked to details, it was just a simple black push-up with lace covering the cups and a tiny bow between them, but everything put together it made a stunning piece. Simple and elegant.

"…only if you try this." Suddenly there was an emerald green and black lace push-up bra in her face.

"Ginny this is Slytherin green, I won't try it!"

"Yes you will! Slytherin green or not it goes great with your hair and complexion, just try it that's all I'm asking." She finished her speech with making puppy-eyes which Hermione rarely could say no to, which was also the case this time. Manipulating bitch.

Two minutes later Hermione stood in a dressing room only dressed in the green bra and matching knickers. To Ginny's defence it really did look great on her.

It matched great with her complexion and hair just as Ginny said it would and it fitted her perfectly. The only down part was that it was green. Slytherin green. But really it wasn't like someone would see it…

* * *

Half an hour later both girls were seated in their usual spot at the Three Broomsticks waiting for Harry and Ron with one shopping bag each at their feet. After quite a long discussion which had even involved the shop-assistant they had all agreed on that the set looked stunning on Hermione and that they couldn't care less what kind of green it was.

Ginny persistent as she was had said that she would just be uncomfortable with the set at the beginning and had urged her to actually switch to the bra and knickers so that she would more easily and faster overcome that discomfort. Not really sure why Hermione had agreed, probably just tired of arguing.

So now she sat there at Three Broomsticks with a Slytherin green lingerie set underneath and her old ones in the bag. It wasn't like someone could see what kind of underwear she wore, but it still felt like some kind of treason. But Ginny was probably right, it was just something to get used to.

Just as their ordered butterbeers arrived to the table Harry and Ron walked through the door. As they passed the waiter they ordered two more butterbeers and took their seats across from Ginny and Hermione at the table.

"Hey guys." Hermione greeted to a slightly irritated Harry and a much too gleeful Ron.

"Hi…" came Harrys mumbling response.

"Hey!" greeted Ron in a cheery way.

Being Ron's sister Ginny suspiciously narrows her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Answered Harry. "What's wrong is that Ron if feeling very Christmassy and has been singing Christmas songs all day!" Poor Harry sounded desperate like he couldn't stand one more song.

"Already Ron? It's-" Hermione asked but was interrupted of heavy _dunk_ as Ginny's head connected with the table. Being his sister she had been through this all too many times. "It's like three and a half month until Christmas, I mean it's not even October yet!"

"That's what I've been trying to tell him all afternoon! IT'S SEPTEMBER!" Harry said desperately.

Ron looked sleepily at them before opening his mouth to answer but whatever he was going to say to his defence was cut off by a high-pinched voice making the three other at the table wince, Hermione more so than the other.

"Won Won!"

Seriously could they not have one afternoon together without her interrupting? Not really feeling for spending time with Lavender Brown, who had now climbed into Ron's lap instead of bringing another chair to the table, and risking to hear a Christmas duets Hermione rose from the table.

"I just forgot that I had to check if the bookshop has gotten that new book I requested. See you back in the castle."

The pained looks she got from Harry and Ginny made it clear that they would like to join her, but that would risk that the now singing duo would come with her, because both were equally clueless, and she wouldn't risk that.

"Bye." She gave them an apologetic smile and headed for the bookshop.

She hadn't really requested a book but the shop might calm her gaging reflexes that always emerged whenever she saw them together. They were adults by magical standards so why not try to act like it?

Maybe she could find a new exiting novel, or two.

As always Hermione could lose herself in a book shop just like Ginny could in the lingerie department, and that's why she didn't notice the looming blond figure behind her until it was too late.

"Really Granger, why do I always find you surrounded by books?"

* * *

**A/N: Um.. how do I start this.. I'm sorry? I know that it's been terribly long since my last update, but well I sort of didn't know what to write, then school got in the way, them my three week trip to London (HP studio tour was awesome! Recommend it!), and then school again! But now I'm back on track.. I hope and I do have an idea where this story is going so that's a plus! Oh and the first sentence is from a Swedish tv comedy show, just translated. **

**As a compensation here is a bit of text that vicxie22 wrote when I asked her for some help what was going to happen when Draco and Hermione met in the library. Just some random flum, enjoy!**

Her beautiful hair shone like the sun and her eyes glistened like the stars at night. His love for her was comparable to his mark. Something he didn't want to have, but something that you had to accept. He would never confess it though. But lately Theo and Blaise had started to make comments about him and Granger so he was kind of sure that they, as his best friends, could see right through him and stare at his passionate feelings for Granger, or Flamione that he secretly called her in his mind. He would of course, never confess that either. It was kind of hot. Flamione. Hot like flames. He could really not have that thought right now, with her beside him. But it was hard not to. She was special, like a unicorn, except the horn. Flamione did not have a horn in her forehead. But that would kind of be hot too. Then she would be Flamicorn. Flamicorn was definitely his new secret nickname for his favourite gryffindork.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**A/N: I can't really apologize enough for the wait, so I will just give you the chapter without any lame excuses. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas (for those who celebrates it) though and a happy New Year! **

_**Last chapter:**_

_The pained looks she got from Harry and Ginny made it clear that they would like to join her, but that would risk that the now singing duo would come with her, because both were equally clueless, and she wouldn't risk that. _

"_Bye." She gave them an apologetic smile and headed for the bookshop. _

_She hadn't really requested a book but the shop might calm her gaging reflexes that always emerged whenever she saw them together. They were adults by magical standards so why not try to act like it?_

_Maybe she could find a new exiting novel, or two._  
_  
As always Hermione could lose herself in a book shop just like Ginny could in the lingerie department, and that's why she didn't notice the looming blond figure behind her until it was too late._

"_Really Granger, why do I always find you surrounded by books?"_

* * *

"To state the obvious I love reading and that's why it's likely to find me around books but that doesn't explain why you seem to follow me here." Hermione was really pleased that she could keep her voice calm and steady, after the initial little jump she made out of fright. She calmly turned around to face the blonde, an action she'd done way too often in the past two weeks for her liking.

"Stop flattering yourself Granger. The wold doesn't circle around you, I was actually coming here to see if they had received the book I ordered for my mother's birthday, but hey, whatever floats your boat." Malfoy said with a shrug and walked past her to the desk.

For a moment Hermione was momentarily speechless. He was going to buy a gift to his mother and wasn't here to bother her? This had never happened before, him turning around without a last insult. She didn't really know how to handle that situation. When she thought back at it, she did the natural thing. The same thing a lot of people have done before her. She went back to familiar grounds - teasing.

"What are you going to get her? _The Ultimate Robes and Jewellery Guide_?" She said sarcastically as she walked a bit closer to the desk herself.

"Not that it is any of your business but no she doesn't read shit like that." He said over his shoulder and then turned back to the owner of the shop that was just emerging from the back room.

"Ah Mr Malfoy, pleased to see you again I hope everything is fine with you. And hello there Miss Granger."

Malfoy cast an irritated eye on her but replied as though she wasn't there. "Yes everything is fine, thank you Mr Cane, have you got that book I ordered?"

"Hello Mr Cane."

Woha! Slow down a bit! Did Malfoy go here so frequently that Mr Cane knew his name? She thought that only went for her! And he is civil- no nice to him! That must have been a first, or was it just that she didn't knew Malfoy as good as she thought she did. That was a creepy thought.

"Yes we got it just this morning." Mr Cane said and retrieved a package from beneath the desk. "_Advanced Potion Remedies_." He read as he laid the book on the desk so Malfoy could inspect it.

Narcissa Malfoy interested in advanced potion making. Who knew! Hermione guessed Malfoy would have gotten his own interest in potion making from somewhere, or else he wouldn't be so skilled in it (it hurt to say that but it was true), but she always guessed that interest came from Snape.

Somehow, knowing this, it felt like she was intruding. This was private between mother and son, not something a sort-of-enemy was supposed to know, or whatever her connection with Malfoy was. Her discomfort would be obvious though if she backed away now. She was standing just behind him and she would have had to be both blind and deaf to not notice the title of the book and she didn't feel right to tease him about it. Mainly because she would like to get her hands on that book as well, it really did sound interesting! But she couldn't say nothing, that would only be awkward as well! Oh shit..

Well here goes nothing…

"Interesting book." She said as she took a step forwards and turned around so that she stood with her back leaning against the desk.

He put some galleons on the counter for Mr Cane to count and turned his head to the side to give her a nasty glare but didn't say anything.

"What? I meant it. I haven't read that one."

Something akin amusement seems to sweep across Malfoy's face and he opened his mouth to retort but Mr Cane interrupted before he could say anything.

"I'm sorry to inform you Miss Granger but that was the only copy, I can order one for you as well if you'd like, but it will take a few days." He handed Malfoy his change and put the book in a bag as Hermione thought it over.

It really sounded like an interesting book and it was a while ago since she bought a book about potions. Besides she did claim to her friends that she was expecting a book and it didn't really hurt to make that lie into truth.

"I'd like that very much Mr Cane." Hermione said turning around so that she could properly smile at the older man.

Mr Cane bid the two students adieu and headed once again to the back room to ship her order.

Hermione watched as the door to the back room closed with a small thud and then turned back towards Malfoy again who was already halfway out of the shop.

"Malfoy," she called after him and watched him stop in the doorway. She took a deep breath and started to follow him. "I'm sorry for assuming that about your mother. It wasn't right."

"It's funny," he said looking out at the street. "How people always think that she's only interested in her appearance when it's actually from her I got all the brains." And with that he left, presumably heading back to the school.

Huh. That was weird, though at the same time it glad her that Lucius Malfoy wasn't the smartest in the family. Though perhaps that was obvious since he joined the Death Eaters willingly.

Hermione turned around and headed to the shelf where she had stood before Malfoy had interrupted her. She still needed a novel to escape to whenever she encountered Lavender and Ron together again.

* * *

Half an hour later Hermione left the bookshop, bags in hand, and headed for the castle. It had been quite a long day and the walk back would hopefully help clear her head from the maelstrom of thoughts.

A bit of fresh air would do her good.

The shopping bags dangled around her and hit her legs, irritating her peaceful walk. Really why hadn't she thought of shrinking them before and just putting them in her pocket? Some witch she were…

A quick spell later and all her bags were safely tucked inside her expandable purse, leaving nothing to hinder her walk, or so she thought.

Halfway back to the castle she saw a white blond head that she'd seen too often that same day. He should have been back to the castle by now if he left when she thought he had left, so what was he doing here standing in the middle of the road.

To tell you the truth, it gave her the creeps. He was just standing there looking straight ahead with his back towards her.

She walked a little closer. He didn't move.

"Ehm… Malfoy?"

He still didn't move.

"Malfoy did you hear me? What are you doing?"

"Yes I heard you, I was only hoping I imagined it, as for what I'm doing, what does it look like I'm fucking doing?"

Seriously he was such a jerk_, no news there…_

"Well it looks like you're just standing there, doing nothing!" she raised her voice and wondered why she even stopped.

"10 points to Granger for stating the obvious! Do you think I would stand here if I had a choice? Something or someone seems to have rooted my feet to the ground, I can't move!" He sounded aggravated.

"Have you tried magic?"

He turned as much as he could with his feet stuck to the ground and gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was mental. "Of course I've tried magic. I'm not a daft first year! I have trie – What are you doing?" he stopped in the middle of his sentence with his eyes wide opened.

To be frank, Hermione didn't know what her feet were doing either, they just seemed to move on their own accord. Towards him.

"Stop!" Malfoy started to freak a little.

"You don't think I TRY!" Hermione yelled, her eyes opened wider than Malfoy's in chock.

"Well do something or you will be stuck here too and won't be able to help me!"

Of course the bastard only thought about himself. What about her! Her feet were moving without her permission, like someone was controlling her.

Suddenly her feet took a very ungraceful jump with a twist, making her body sway dangerously from the waist up. She was now facing Malfoy instead standing behind him, and her feet had not stopped moving.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Hermione's feet didn't stop; they refused to stop until she stood pressed against Malfoy. What kind of spell was this?

She felt a shove in her chest and with her feet glued to the ground she would most likely fall flat on her bum and break her ankles. So she did the only logical thing in that split of asecond before the ground would come crashing against her, she grabbed onto Malfoy for all she was worth.

"What are you doing?" Malfoy yelled in horror.

Seriously,this wasn't exactly ideal for her either but it was either this or falling flat on her arse but hey wait a minute! _" – but hey, wait a minute!"_

"You pushed me!"

"You were standing too close and now you're even closer!"

"Well whose fault is that? Besides I could have broken my ankles!"

"Is this a face that looks like it gives a flying fuck?" he said with a hand gesture to his face.

What a jerk! She punched him in the chest with a closed fist. Because of the _small _distance between them she couldn't get the swing she would have needed to make it a good one. So instead of a punch similar to the one in third year she barely made him wobble. This meant she just girl-punched Draco Malfoy in the chest, good move Hermione.

"Was that necessary?" He asked in a condescending voice that made Hermione's blood boil. Not really trusting her voice she just glared at him for a few heartbeats before she began firing hexes and spells at the ground where they stood.

Hex after hex.

Spell after spell.

"I've already tried those." Came his voice from above her.

She ignored him, and started firing more advanced hexes.

"And those…"

Hermione was _starting_ to run low on spells or hexes that would unlock their locked feet, and she was getting more and more frenetic. She would not be stuck here with Malfoy of all people.

When none of her spells had the desired affect she started trying the muggle way. She wiggled and squirmed like there was no tomorrow, because she seriously doubted she would survive the night stuck with Malfoy.

She wasn't worried about surviving physically; it was her mental ability she was worried about. Her brain would probably melt by his mere presence and she would no longer be regarded as the brightest witch of the age!

And yes she was quite proud of that title. Who wouldn't be?

"Stop it!" He said after quite a long stretch of silence, at least for them it was long.

"What?" She asked but didn't stop her squirming.

"Stop… wiggling."

Why? Didn't he want to get out of this situation? Then she noticed how tense he was. Was he in pain? Had the spell started to physically hurt him? Would it start to hurt her too? Then maybe she wouldn't survive after all! She increased her wiggling to a fanatic level, she didn't want to die!

"Just stop it."

"Why?" She asked in near panic and then she started to feel something pressing slightly against her belly.

"Oh…" She stopped immediately.

Well this was awkward…

Did she just make little Draco come out to play? And did she just refer to Malfoy's penis as "little Draco"? By God something was seriously wrong with her!

She leaned back a fraction so she could glance up at his face. There was rage in those grey eyes, but his cheeks was slightly pink so she guessed that he was more angry with himself to actually get an erection in this situation. Merlin knows she would have. But then again you could never really know with Malfoy.

Apparently he got uneasy under her glance because he broke it and moved a fraction back. That's right, he moved a tiny bit backwards. Suddenly a horrid thought came to her.

"Oh no… it can't be…"

"What is it?"

She remembered a day this last summer at the burrow. It was sunny and everybody was out in the back yard just lazing so when Hermione headed to the kitchen to get herself a cup of tea she didn't expect to stumble onto the twins. She only heard bits of their conversation like "…make them stick…", "…awesome…", " …kiss?" and "Wicked!" before they seemed to hear her and she opened the kitchen door. She wondered what they had been talking about but she only got one word from George "Experiment" and a smirk from Fred, and she knew that whatever it was it would not end well.

"I think I know what has gotten us stuck here."

Malfoy lifted an eyebrow, the uncharacteristic pinkish tone on his cheeks gone. "Care to share with the class Granger?"

"A Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product, a prototype." Hermione made it her business to know about the Weasley products on the market so she would not get stuck, literary, in a situation like this.

"And how do _we _get loose then?" Malfoy asked.

This was the part she really wished she didn't know about. She took a deep breath and said as steadily as she could. "A kiss."

"Excuse me, I thought you said a kiss?" Malfoy said flabbergasted.

She growled, "You heard me Malfoy. This is a trick where the only way out is through intimacy on some level. Believe me I wish I weren't but did you notice that you could move a little when you got a boner? Yeah, haven't forgotten about that!"

She didn't really know why she said that last part but she was just so frustrated. She was going to maim whoever did this.

"How do you know that?"

"I heard them planning this thing."

"And it didn't come to you to before that this product might be the answer to why we are stuck, we have been here for almost an hour!"

He was right, about an hour had passed and none of the students had passed them on their way back to the castle. Odd, Hermione thought before she focused on her argument with Malfoy once again.

"Well I didn't hear them plan the whole thing, I just sort of caught pieces of their plan."

"So how do you know it has to be a kiss?" He said with a raised eyebrow crossing his arms over his chest.

"Because I think they tested it on Ron a week later. He was gone for almost a day and when we found him he was wiping his mouth fanatically!" Suddenly it all clicked, Ron wouldn't say a word about where he'd been and the twins had looked far too happy.

Malfoy snorted in amusement. "Wonder which sibling he had to kiss? Perhaps that stuck-up one working for the ministry? HA! That would be a sight!"

Hermione's eyes grew wide, Percy had left real sudden that day, now that she thought about it.

Seeing the look on her face Malfoy knew he'd guessed right. "Oh Merlin this is priceless! I guess I could have gotten something worse…" he tailed off and let his eyes roam over her.

Not degrading or dirty at all… Hermione shrouded.

"Let's get this over with, and I hope to Salazar that you're right about this Granger!"

All of the sudden his hands were on both sides of her head, pulling her towards him.

She tensed. The second it took for their lips to meet seemed like an eternity. Then it was there, their lips met in an innocent peck and the world turned to fast-forward. Before she knew what was going on it was over and the air blew cold against her cheeks.

She tried to take a step back but couldn't move. It seemed like Malfoy was facing the same problems because he was trying to kick his way free.

"I don't know why it didn't work. It should have worked! Why didn't it work!" Hermione mumbled. She was searching her brain for any explanation why the kiss would not have worked. The obvious explanation was that this perhaps wasn't a Weasley product, but it certainly felt like something they could come up with.

"Because it wasn't a proper kiss Granger." Malfoy said. He'd stop trashing and was now staring at her again.

"What? What are you-" her sentence was cut short by Malfoy's lips. This wasn't an innocent peck. This was ruthless and all-consuming. He used the access created by her sentence and turned the kiss into a full-on snog.

She wished she could say that she loathed the kiss but that would be lying. His surprisingly soft lips matched her lips perfectly. Nate had been a good kisser but he was nothing compared to Malfoy! She felt herself responding to the kiss. The stokes of his tongue was in sync with hers, her fingers started working their way up to his hair and his arms slipped around her pulling her close. Neither of them saw the faint pink low surrounding their feet before it disappeared into the cobblestones.

Her stomach was starting to feel all tingly when they finally broke apart, both slightly out of breath.

Malfoy slowly took a step back with nothing keeping his feet to the ground. "It seems you were right about the product Granger. Now if neith-"

"Neither of us will tell a living soul." Hermione filled in licking her slightly swollen lips. She didn't really need the kind of gossip this incident would create around her.

"Great. That's settled then."

Both of them turned to walk back to the school.

"You know Granger, that kiss wasn't half-bad. You seemed to know what you were doing. Tell me Granger, have you been cheating on those library books with some actual human beings this summer?" Malfoy said before the whole situation could get awkward wiggling his eyebrows. How could such a good kisser be so annoying?

"So what if I have? Can't a girl have some fun too? Judging by those tongue-moves you just played and your reputation it's not exactly you first kiss either, so why can't I?" She liked him better with his mouth closed, or occupied… with hers. _Did she seriously just think that?! _

"Whoha relax and remove those remaining splinters that are still up your arse from when you removed the whole stick. I was trying to give you a compliment."

"Oohh… well it was a sucky compliment." Did Malfoy just give her a compliment _and_ explained that he had done it? Isn't that something that he should cover up and never mention again? Who was this guy and what _had_ he done to the old Malfoy?

Or maybe the war really had changed him like it had changed her.

"I guess you were quite good with your mouth too…" It pained her to say it out loud but he had just given her a compliment so she kind of had to tell him one as well.

"Of course I am! I'm the Slytherin sex-god, my mouth can do all sorts of things!" he boasted.

She pretended to choke and clawed at the throat "I just snogged something equivalent to a toilet seat."

She got a light punch in the shoulder that made her stagger slightly to the left and started laughing. They were already at Hogwarts crossing the courtyard on their way to the entrance hall.

"Stop laughing at me! I'm no damn toilet!" he said with humour in his voice pulling out his wand.

She took out hers, "What are you gonna do about it_…,_Toilet boy?"

But as soon as her wand was out his eyes twinkled with mischief and _he _did a non-verbal Expelliarmus. Beneath her shockshe was slightly impressed that he could do that kind of spell non-verbal, but right now he had her wand twirling it in his hand.

"Didn't expect you to be so slow, Granger."

"Sorry for having stomach cramps from all the laughing toilet boy, now give it back."

"Quit calling me that."

"Calling you what, Toilet boy?" Hermione asked with an innocent look.

"Suite yourself." He said and turned around walking with her wand up the stairs to the entrance hall.

Hermione was momentarily stunned but quickly caught herself and ran after him. He was already inside the hall when she caught up with him and before she could point it out to herself what a horrid idea it really was she leaped up on Malfoy's back, trying to reach her wand.

Malfoy staggered but kept upright. "What are you doing?"

"Give me my wand!"

"Get off!"

"Give me my wand!"

"No!"

He started trying to shake her off and Hermione held on for dear life, neither of them realizing that a crowd was building around them.

"Give me my wand!"

"No! Get off!"

"Give it to me!"

"What is going on here?" A slow aristocratic voice droned from through the crowd.

Both Malfoy and Hermione froze instantly with Hermione still on Malfoy's back, both of them recognizing the voice.

"Detention both of you, for a week!" Professor Snape's voice boomed once again.

"What for?" Malfoy asked. Hermione had thought the exact same question but was still too much in shock to be able voice it.

"For permanently damaging my eyes with such a scene. 7 o'clock Monday evening my office. Don't be late."

And with that he left, leaving two quite embarrassed young adults and a horde of students that were creating new rumours by the second.

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**A/N: Ummm taa daaaa! As always sorry for the wait. Please tell me what you think of the chapter. It kind of just came to me so sorry if it's a bit random **


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